Best Headphones for gaming - no amp

crawlgsx said:
Well I pulled the trigger and ordered the 80ohm DT 770 Pro's.

Comfort wise they appeal to me the most, I was still debating the HD 598's but decided to go with the DT's instead.

I still have yet to decide on soundcard vs Ext USB DAC/Amp. I think I am going to just try them with my onboard realtek HD and see what happens first. I still would appreciate advice on the best (for the money, I am not spending $200) sound card to power these.

Again keep in mind that these will be used 95+% of the time for gaming and I don't care about dolby/eax/5.1/etc... I am just looking for power/clarity for these headphones for gaming.
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You don't have to get a soundcard if you don't need one. Onboard audio can be excellent and without background noise or hisses. It's not even rare anymore.

If you want an internal soundcard, Asus Xonar ones are excellent and not overpriced (the DG for example does the job just fine and is cheap)
 
My onboard does 192/24 and makes no funny noises that I am aware of, I'm going to just give it a shot first and see how it sounds. I just wanted to get ideas for if I decide onboard isn't good enough. I was also more worried about if they would probably power the headhones.
 
crawlgsx said:
My onboard does 192/24 and makes no funny noises that I am aware of, I'm going to just give it a shot first and see how it sounds. I just wanted to get ideas for if I decide onboard isn't good enough. I was also more worried about if they would probably power the headhones.
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They will not power the headphones as well as a sound card. I promise you that. The Xonar DG is $25 and a good step above the on board sound in your case.
 
spaceman said:
They will not power the headphones as well as a sound card. I promise you that. The Xonar DG is $25 and a good step above the on board sound in your case.
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Cool thats the kind of info I was looking for :).

Does Asus make anything like the external X-Fi with the volume control? I couldn't find one but didn't think it would hurt to ask. I see the Essence One but that is way above and too much money for me :). The E7/E9 FiiO combo seems like the best for the money that I can find but it's still a little more than I'd like to spend (~$200).

Maybe I should do the Xonar DG and E9? Would be ~$125 total.

I don't use/like multimedia keyboards so I am kind of leaving myself stuck with using windows volume control, which obviously sucks when in game.
 
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crawlgsx said:
Maybe I should do the Xonar DG and E9? Would be ~$125 total.

I don't use/like multimedia keyboards so I am kind of leaving myself stuck with using windows volume control, which obviously sucks when in game.
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If what you're really after is just an external physical volume control you can get something like the Griffin Powermate and set it up for that instead of spending $100 on an amp.

It is $35 though, and a good argument could be made for putting that money toward a piece of more versatile and useful hardware like the E9.

Just throwing out options.
 
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Yeah I looked at all those but if I am going to spend $35+ for a volume control I might as well spend more and get the amp :). I have found the E9 for as low as $80-90 (almost got one for $65 on ebay, got sniped for $66). So buying just a knob for $35 seems silly.

I am trying to find the answer to E7/E9 vs Good sound card and E9. And my other post, which is does the E7/E9 combo actually work with 7 64, I have seen a lot of complaints about windows 64 not seeing the DAC at all or being only 1 channel, if I spend that kind of money and it didn't work I would be quite disappointed to say the least :D
 
best vaule is COBY CV-163 for $6.99
cant beat price:sound ratio. da best headphones I've ever had. dont waste $50 on gear
that'll sound just the same.
 
Gomar said:
best vaule is COBY CV-163 for $6.99
cant beat price:sound ratio. da best headphones I've ever had. dont waste $50 on gear
that'll sound just the same.
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Have you ever owned a pair of headphones that cost more than $15? :p
 
Gomar said:
best vaule is COBY CV-163 for $6.99
cant beat price:sound ratio. da best headphones I've ever had. dont waste $50 on gear
that'll sound just the same.
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You could read the thread before posting ;).

I already purchased nice headphones, the subject has changed to soundcard/amp/dac questions :D
 
Got my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro's and E9 today, all I can say is wow. it was everything I was hoping for. SO Much more comfortable and the sound difference is just insane.

it is clear after having these that I need a better soundcard/DAC. I get some crackle/pop and I do get hissing with windows volume @ 100 and the E9 over ~20%.

I still haven't decided what I am going to do for that, probably E17 or wait for the E15 and just sell my E9.

Either way I am very happy already, I could wear these headphones for days straight without any head or ear pain :D
 
crawlgsx said:
Got my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro's and E9 today, all I can say is wow. it was everything I was hoping for. SO Much more comfortable and the sound difference is just insane.

it is clear after having these that I need a better soundcard/DAC. I get some crackle/pop and I do get hissing with windows volume @ 100 and the E9 over ~20%.

I still haven't decided what I am going to do for that, probably E17 or wait for the E15 and just sell my E9.

Either way I am very happy already, I could wear these headphones for days straight without any head or ear pain :D
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Are you getting that hissing with the gain position set to low? From the sound of things the gain may be set too high, since the newest realtek chips are fairly quiet themselves when they don't have to actually work as an amp.

Edit: Glad to hear you like them btw.
 
Thanks man. Yeah that is with the gain off.

One thing I'm wondering if could be causing it is the stereo cable I used. I didn't realize the E9 didn't come with a cable to go from the analog jack to the unit itself. All I had around was a 25ft cable that I don't even know where it came from or quality of said cable.
 
While that is a stupid long cable, I have my doubts that is the issue. The problem may just be a slightly high noise floor reported on the E9. Usually not bad enough to be heard unless the volume pot is set over 50% except for iem. Any way you could try hook up the Beyer's directly to your sound card? That could help to confirm which part of the signal chain is generating the hiss.
 
I am also now getting some static and I can ... "hear my cursor" from time to time. it makes like a "whine" when I move the cursor.
 
Just tried the DT's plugged in to soundcard. At 100% volume I have no feedback/cracking/mouse noise/ etc... perfectly clean.

They don't sound nearly as good though lol.
 
I'd get a shorter cable for sure, line outs don't usually have enough juice to really push a signal that far. Just a quick thought, are you using the front panel line out? The realtek software usually makes the front panel amplified, although it should switch depending on the resistance to non amplified.

edit: Yeah, I know what you mean. I could never go back to using the amp onboard the realtek even though my headphones are really efficient. It just doesn't sound as good.
 
shadow_419 said:
I'd get a shorter cable for sure, line outs don't usually have enough juice to really push a signal that far. Just a quick thought, are you using the front panel line out? The realtek software usually makes the front panel amplified, although it should switch depending on the resistance to non amplified.

edit: Yeah, I know what you mean. I could never go back to using the amp onboard the realtek even though my headphones are really efficient. It just doesn't sound as good.
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I am using the rear output for the E9, my test with the DT's with soundcard were on the front panel.
 
Unplugging speakers from the analog output from the E9 got rid of the static...

But the fix was moving my analog output on the PC to the front panel instead of the rear jack. Now it is 100% clear, no noises at all, just utter bliss. Would've rather had it plugged in in the back but I'll take it.

Skrillex lossless has never sounded so crazy!
 
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Well glad something fixed the issue. Seems the back panel line out is picking up interference. I'm lucky, in that respect. Unless I'm using a >x6.5 gain multiplier, i have zero noise/hiss from my line out and amp.
 
shadow_419 said:
Well glad something fixed the issue. Seems the back panel line out is picking up interference. I'm lucky, in that respect. Unless I'm using a >x6.5 gain multiplier, i have zero noise/hiss from my line out and amp.
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You suck :D haha thanks man, thats definitely good. I still plan to upgrade to an external DAC at some point but I am going to wait for the E17 and E15 launch and figure out which way I want to go.
 
This

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+

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=

Very happy music listener.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
Have you ever owned a pair of headphones that cost more than $15? :p
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nope. I bought Sony headphones for $4.99, and the Coby, sound just like $50 ones.
In fact, if listening to MP3s at 128kb why waste $ on anything else?!
 
Gomar said:
nope. I bought Sony headphones for $4.99, and the Coby, sound just like $50 ones.
In fact, if listening to MP3s at 128kb why waste $ on anything else?!
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Because listening to low bitrate sucks. If it's your thing, then more power to you, but I actually enjoy music so I'll stick with uncompressed audio and decent affordable audio gear.
 
Gomar said:
nope. I bought Sony headphones for $4.99, and the Coby, sound just like $50 ones.
In fact, if listening to MP3s at 128kb why waste $ on anything else?!
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eww. I have nothing lower than 256, mostly 320, and a decent amount of lossless. Nothing VBR
 
If I had a lot of disposable cash (instead of the crappy speakers I currently have), I'd get the following:

Sound cards (either of the following):

Headphones (either of the following) for single player gaming:

And for multiplayer gaming if I need a headset with a mic (either of the following):
 
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